The Sickness
by Faith In Eliza
Summary: After Buffy is killed by The Sickness, Faith is left with the strong responsibility of raising Buffy's daughter, Jillian.
1. The Funeral

Author's Note:

I'd like to thank Joss Whedon and David Fury, as well as Marty Noxon for creating the show. It came a long way and you guys did great.

Beware of the sickness.

**You can run...but you can't hide.**

**The Sickness  
**

Faith watched as the wooden coffin was lowered down into the ground. 'Hold the Line, and don't give up...' Faith sighed quietly as Buffy's final words flew around in her head.

The wind tasseled her hair as she tried to steady her breathing. Faith looked over at the others in the solemn circle around the priest and the burial site. "May the Lord take care of her..." The Priest said, blessing the coffin. Willow let out a little sob and Faith looked over at her, Xander wrapping his arms around the redhead's body, holding her close.

Xander looked over at The Slayer, his eyes puffy. Rupert Giles blew his nose and put the Kleenex back into his pocket, revealing his extremely red nose. _Everyone's becoming sick._ Faith thought. She thought about Giles, Probably wishing it was her being lowered six feet under than Buffy. She looked down at the little girl holding her hand. "Jillie," she whispered, picking up the dark blonde child and balancing her on her hip. She bounced her soothingly for a few minutes, wanting the service to be over, finished, finally, forever. As the shovels were taken out, Xander stepped up and took one. Giles stepped in and picked up a shovel as well. Together, the two men picked up piles of dirt and gently placed them in the hole. Faith watched, silent tears running down her cheeks now. She didn't even bother roughly wiping them away, only because she knew more were on their way. The two men patted down the earth and placed several bouquets on the burial site. Faith got in line last, placing five year old Jillian Summers down beside her. "Come on," she said through glassy eyes. "Let's give your mommy her flowers." Faith, still holding the child's hand, stepped up and placed the roses on the wet dirt. Jillian kneeled and put her single carnation beside Faith's and they walked back by Xander and Giles. Faith looked at them, then behind her at Willow. Jillian glanced around and Giles picked her up. Xander nodded once at Faith, and Willow joined them.

"I-It's just so...weird." She whimpered. "It's the second time-"  
"Willow, we can't this time. She's really gone." Xander said, cutting her off. Faith nodded in agreement. She knew that Willow wanted to try that spell again. Faith left them, walking back over to the cross headstone that read "Buffy Anne Summers". She sat down, not caring about her new blank jeans getting muddy or dirty. People in large groups starting leaving and all Faith could see through the fog were tons of tail lights towards the exit of the cemetery. For a while, a few others surrounded her, and then they all seemed to leave. "We're going to-" Xander began.  
"Go ahead," Faith replied in a whispered. "I'll come by later." Xander nodded, kneeling down and hugging Faith. She closed her eyes during the embrace and then looked away as he left.  
The fog gathered up to the point where Faith could barely see a thing. A few hours later of thinking, a tall man appeared through the fog. Faith looked up, standing. She ran towards the man. "Oh, Angel." she said, sobbing. He held her close for a while, wiping her bleeding eyeliner and mascara from under her eyes when she pulled away. Faith inhaled deeply.

"Oh, God, you should have seen-" she cut herself off. "It was...it was awful." Angel nodded, pulling her back to him. "Shhh," he whispered in her ear. "It's alright." But secretly, his unbeating heart ached over the loss of his Slayer, Buffy Anne Summers.


	2. Backbone

Angel had carried her mostly back to the Summer's home, the tears on the Slayer's face drying as she lay in his arms, stunned. As the Vampire glided up the walkway, she dropped from his grasp. Wiping her face, and looking up to him, she whispered, "Oh, God."

Faith turned from the vampire, and he held her hand as they entered the threshold.

It was almost like a party. Many people were there, some Faith didn't even recognize, and she looked behind her at Angel, who nodded her on. Looking down at the ground, Faith let go of his hand and made her way through the crowd to the kitchen.

The room was deserted, a pie simply sitting in the middle of the island. She closed the door, immediately letting out short gasps of breath that she'd been holding in. The Slayer opened her eyes and wiped the tears away with the sleeve of her shirt, looking around the kitchen with watery vision. Her eyes fell on the pie.

Immediately, the Slayer grabbed the dessert, throwing it across the room and glass flying back in all directions. She hated this. The door flew open by one of the visitors and she quickly exited past them towards the stairs, then to her bedroom. Faith passed Buffy's on the way, seeing a figure on the bed. She pushed the door open, searching the face of the figure.

It was Jillian.

"Hey, baby." She whispered, walking in and sitting on the edge of the bed. She pulled a few strands back from Jillian's face and stroked her head. Clearly the child was asleep. Faith picked up her body in one strong arm and pulling back the bedspread and sheets with the other. She placed Jillian back down onto the bed, covering her up.

She just stood there for a bit, watching her before standing up and leaving from the room.

The Slayer collapsed onto her bed, knowing that they probably heard the noise from the old bed downstairs. Oh well, she didn't care. Faith hadn't gotten a wink of sleep in the past week, implying that she was exhausted. She closed her eyes, waking at the sound of her door creaking open. It was a tall, brooding, body that she couldn't make out.

It turned out to be Angel, who was just up there to check on her. He pulled the comforter up from underneath her and over her. Faith's eyes drifted closed, she falling back into what she hoped was a coma. But it couldn't be a coma. Not now. She had to take care of Jillian, the house, Slaying…

"Shhh," Angel said, stroking her head. She opened her eyes once more. Had she been whimpering in her sleep again? Angel tried to make eye contact with her, which he knew she hated, but he just had to see if the old Faith was still in there. She caught his sight, looking back at him through cold, dead eyes.

"I-I can't do this alone." She whispered harshly. Her tone was of one Angel had never heard her speak in. It was cold. Dead. But it still had sorrow and sadness locked up in it.

"Faith," Angel said, rocking her body. "We'll all be here. Xander, Willow, Giles…"

"And you?" she said, same tone as before. "You'll be back in Los Angeles with Wolfram and Ha-"

He looked in her chocolate brown eyes. "I'm only a telephone call away." And with that, the vampire leaned down and kissed her forehead, stroking her hair until the Slayer fell asleep.

But Faith couldn't fall asleep. Still.

When the Slayer opened her eyes, Angel was gone. She cried.

It wasn't dark, and it wasn't light. The cloudiness was muffled to the point that she couldn't see out the window. She wondered how Jillian was. Actually, Faith wondered how many things were. She rolled over onto her side, burying her head into the pillows. Her head collided with something hard.

"Angel?" she called softly, only to find that she'd hit her head on the headboard.

The Slayer wasn't read to get up. She needed her backbone. Her strength. The man who'd always been there for her. She needed him now.

"Angel." She called once more, knowing he wouldn't respond.


	3. Awakening

Finally, she got up.

Her head throbbed from something she'd been forced to take from Angel. What was it called? A vacuum? No. Vacium?

Whatever it was, she didn't know, but it had knocked her out hard. Rolling out of bed the Slayer, in pajamas and puzzled on how they'd gotten on, scratched her head lazily as she lethargically went down the staircase.

Another Slayer approached. "What are you, an elephant?" she said, her British tone gliding from her tongue. Faith sneered at her tiredly before slipping on the last step but regaining her balance once more. Faith went into the living room, for she wasn't hungry much. But, in this particular were about ten girls. Faith slumped against the wooden doorframe. "Get out." She growled.

"Go smell the fresh coffee, Faith." A Slayer named Sadie said sarcastically. The head brunette, worn out as she had been this past month, simply turned around and shuffled into the kitchen.

There wasn't fresh coffee, which the eldest was peeved about.

Faith sat down roughly onto a barstool and tried to eat, drink, whatever, but that medication hadn't worn off, giving her the want to throw up.

With her hoarse voice, she asked, "What time did Angel leave last night?" The three or so girls in the room looked at each other, shrugging.

"He was upstairs the whole night, we figured that you guys were spending time with each other or something." Faith rolled her eyes, looking out the window. He had to have left around dawn, or else he could still be in the house. Why was she suddenly so obsessed with Angel?

She shook her head, clearing her mind. "Get my smokes." She ordered to Rona. Rona looked Faith square in the eye. The older Slayer looked away. She hated it when people looked her straight in the eye.

"I threw them out." She replied simply, turning away and turning on the water from the sink. Faith jumped up, the stool falling behind her.

"You what!" she growled, holding Rona up, the younger Slayer's feet coming up off the ground.

"Faith?" a young child's voice said behind her.

She dropped Rona and spun around, getting an instant hot flash and almost collapsing. "Hey, babe." She said, stumbling on her way to pick up the kid. "Good morning, kiddo. How are ya?" she asked, picking Jillian up and walking her over to the barstool, picking it up and setting her on it. "Do you want some cheerios? Fruit loops?"

Jillian shrugged, staring at all the cereal boxes.

Faith closed her eyes painfully, leaving the child alone on the stool. She staggered over to the medicine cabinet and blindly went through, trying to find some Advil for her head. Bottles fell from the cabinet and onto the tile floor, another Slayer they called Sam picked them up when she found a bottle. Finally, Faith found what she was looking for, fumbling with the top that just wouldn't seem to come off.

All around her Slayers started to watch: from the hallway, the space between the living room and the kitchen, the dining room, outside, and the kitchen, as well. She didn't notice until she threw the bottle onto the floor, screaming quietly. The Slayer leaned back on the sink, and then slid down the cabinet, dark curls falling into her face as she covered it.

"Faith?" Vi said, stepping forward and kneeling down. She picked up the bottle, opened it, and poured about two or three pills into her hand. Sam handed Vi and glass of water. "Come, on, I've got some Ibuprofen and some water." Faith looked up, wiping a few thick strands from her face to reveal wet streaks, staining her rough personality.

The younger Slayer opened up Faith's hand, placing the pills into her hand and giving her the glass in the other.

Rona looked at all the girls surrounding them. Including Jillian.

"She's been sitting there for over two hours." Vi reported to Xander. Both of their views were on Faith who was still sitting by the sink in the kitchen.

"Do you know what's wrong with her?" he asked.

"No," Sam replied.

"Oh, stop being so overdramatic." Sadie said sardonically. "Clearly, she's mourning over the loss of Buffy and Angel."

"Angel?" Xander asked, looking over at Sadie.

"Yeah," Rona said. "He left earlier. Or last night. We're not sure." Xander nodded.

The male stood up, walking into the dining room to get a closer view of Faith. "We're all mourning for Buffy. She was my best friend, she trained most of you, and she was the bravest person I ever knew."

"She and Jillian are taking this the hardest," someone said in the living room. Xander looked behind him, hoping to catch whoever said that. He didn't, looking down at his shoes.

"Where's Jillie?" he asked one of the girls next to him quietly.

Rona looked first in the kitchen, then in the living room. "I don't know, she just kind of…"

"Disappeared after the big outburst by Faith." Vi finished. She looked over to Xander who was already gone.

A hard knock on the door sent everyone who was sitting up to their feet.

"Inspectors, open up!" a low voice yelled, following with another few loud bangs. Sadie opened the door. This wasn't anything new. Inspectors had come pretty much once every three or four days to examine the house and it's surroundings for any signs of or for this Sickness. Rona opened the door right before they were about to crash through it, men in dark and bulky suits moving in.

"Living room: clear." One said, declaring what his radar had said.

"Dining room: clear!" Another said pushing past Xander who was trying to hide Faith in the kitchen.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" A man who's face was covered asked, kneeling down and tilted Faith's head up with his gloved hand quickly. With his other, he roughly pulled open her eyelids. Faith shook her head from his grasp, letting her head fall to her chest again. He looked to Xander. "Is this one sick?"

"No," Xander replied, kicking a pill bottle quietly under the island. All this was making sense. According to the girls, anyways. "Of course not. We all got our injections three weeks ago."

The masked man took one more look at Faith and then called in the rest. "Possible victim, let's get her in the truck." Two others nodded, picking her up and trailing her to the front door where the leader opened it up.

"She's not sick!" Vi and Rona exclaimed, running after them.

But the men kept walking.


End file.
